barely keeping up... - Saturday, Nov. 25 2006

things've been a lil hectic since coming back from my Okinawan Holiday.

2 weeks ago: a trip to K-town w/ the school & a historical tour of Mori-G (yes, the Hood has a history)

2 weekends ago: vball tournament in Hirakata City, PTA event(tamaire)

Last week: JET mid-year seminar in Abiko, trip to Ame-mura to see if i could spot any freaks (didn't really see any, guess i was the only one =P)

...and (today) a nice scenic afternoon in the historic city of Uji in Kyoto w/ 4 ladies.

i was totally unaware that i'd be playing nihon gigolo today. they told me it was going to be an English study-group, (i had worksheets n discussion questions all prepped n everything!) but when i met up w/ my contact from the BOE at the train station this morning @ 1100 she tells me things are going to be "slightly" different.

i was a bit choked at first; i thought this discussion group would only last for an hour or 2 then i'd be free the rest of the day, but as it turned out they'd decided to go on a "field trip"...and the plan was to practice their english by conversing with me in a casual atmosphere. great. i was preparing myself for a looong afternoon...we were meeting the rest of the group (3 other ladies) in Uji (2nd largest city in Kyoto prefecture), the location for the day.

i'll admit though, i lucked out. the day turned out to be very interesting and they PAID for everything; train fare, admissions, lunch, snack/dessert...their way of showing gratitude for my taking the time to help them practice their English i guess. but yeah...i totally feel like i'm the one who got the good end of this bargain. a walk through the park w/ a bunch of cougars to "watch the changing colours of autumn leaves" doesn't exactly sound thrilling to me...but it was pretty nice actually.

2 of them just got their licenses as English-speaking tour guides, so they were able to tell me a lot of information about the sites/buildings and stuff; history of Phoenix hall, the city of Uji's connections to the famous Tale of Genji, and other info that helped make things that much more interesting. many of the things we saw are from the Heian Period (which was the last division of classical Jap history: 794-1185)...meaning the stuff we saw was really, really old. sure some of it's been restored, and replicas were reinstalled so that the originals could be put into the museum but still, this is like THOUSAND-year-old stuff. that's crazy when i think about it...i don't think i've ever seen stuff that old before. i mean sure, stuff i saw in Europe and whatever was great; classical, famous, blablabla...but even all that renaissance stuff is only hundreds of years old...babies compared to this stuff.

and those leaves by themselves really are worth seeing. just wish they would've told me we'd be going here earlier so i would've brought my camera...(although maybe if she'd told me about the "trip" she had planned i would've declined haha)...but i had my ketai camera which is better than nothing.

ok here's some shots from today. resolution's crap, but u get the idea:

first things first:


"light" lunch w/ the ladies after arriving in Uji (no nikku! =( but it was still tasty)


the Uji River



(one of its many crossings)

Phoenix Hall...


this thing is old...



building's layout is in the shape of a Phoenix too...



and those crazy ass leaves...these pictures don't do them justice


(lol, oh you know i just HAD to ring that bell...)

some dessert for my "services"...


and there you have it. one day in Kyoto, 4 ladies served, all-expenses paid, and my stomach satisfied.

now THAT's BIG nihon pimpin':



(where mah b*#$hes at???)  ¶ 2:32 AM